


Am I Dreaming?

by R_Sublett



Category: Smosh, Smosh Games
Genre: F/F, F/M, Inception AU, M/M, Smosh Games - Freeform, smosh - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-01-18 21:20:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12396453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_Sublett/pseuds/R_Sublett
Summary: Will this really be the last job for Olivia Sui, or will it be her undoing?





	1. The Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I am really excited about this fic and comment you feelings about it! Thank you so much for reading!

Olivia walked past the many students bustling about at the University of Paris. She pushed past the younger people and towards one of the lecture halls so she could attend her meeting, an unplanned meeting, but then again they always were. She stood out among the crowd in her black clothing and sunglasses along with having her hood pushed over her head. Her heels clicked against the sidewalk with the quick steps she took and the wind swept some of the stray hairs not pushed into her hood into her face. The sun was starting to set and students were clearing the area so they could go back to their dorms or apartments. Various languages were being spoken around her but soon the speaking stopped once she reached the building.  
Silence was heard throughout the old building as she walked down the stairs and took a left through one of the hallways. In a couple more steps she reached her intended lecture hall and quietly pushed open the door. The room was wide and filled with many rows of seats, it was almost like an auditorium, and at the center was a messy desk in front of a wall of chalk boards.  
Ian was leaning up against the front of the desk and was looking over a student's blueprints. He spoke in French to the student, smiled, then handed them back their work. The student left out the front entrance and Ian went behind his desk and started pulling out papers and shoving them into his satchel. Olivia noticed some of the small changes he had since she had last seen him. He wore glasses now and his short brown hair was messy, but he had the same bit of scruff on his face and the same bright blue eyes.  
“I see you still don’t use your office.” Olivia said loudly, her statement echoed throughout the hall and Ian looked up from his bag and into the corner where Olivia was standing. She walked forward and took off her hood and sunglasses to reveal her face.  
“Too small, they put me in a damn broom closet. It smells like wet paint no matter what I do.” Ian said back. He finished putting papers into his bag and gave Olivia his full attention. She finished walking down the stairs and was standing in front of him now. She leaned on a folding chair behind her and shoved her hands in her pockets. Ian studied her cautiously as he zipped up his bag, “What are you doing back here?” he asked.  
“I need someone, an Architect to be specific.” Olivia stated. Ian sighed and rubbed his eyes.  
“You want to corrupt a young mind of a student, introduce them to the impossible.” Ian retorted almost impatiently. “Why can’t you do it, you used to do it and some might even say the best at it.” He said back to her. He slung his bag over his shoulder and was ready to walk out until Olivia took a step closer.  
“I call it opening their minds.” She said back.  
“You still didn’t answer my question.” Ian shot back. Olivia huffed in retaliation and crossed her arms.  
“I can’t and you know that already. My last Architect disappeared after our last job.”  
“This is why I’m not helping you Sui, you need help. I thought Shayne convinced you to get some. Last time I saw you, you were a mess.” Ian said with a mint of worry.  
“It’s one job, my last job. This one will change everything and I won’t have to do this ever again.” Olivia said, Ian rolled his eyes and started to walk out of the lecture hall until Olivia ran in front of him. “You’re the one who taught me this, brought me into this world. You can help me and you know it.” She stated. Ian glared at Olivia and motioned with his head for her to follow him.  
“How much will this job change things?” Ian asked as they walked up the stairs together.  
“I can go home after this one, the charges will be cleared.” Olivia said. They stopped on the top step and Ian took another deep breath.  
“Fine.” He said defeatedly.

+++ 

Three Days Earlier

Olivia folded up the rest of her shirts and placed them neatly into her duffel bag. As she zipped it Shayne came into her room with his bag over his shoulder and his leather satchel by his side. The book ‘Cujo’ by Stephen King was in his hand and sunglasses were hanging from his shirt collar. “Hey” Olivia murmured quietly from her spot on the bed. She zipped her bag and took a deep breath in before turning to face Shayne.  
“What happened earlier? I thought you said you had things under control with her.” Shayne stated calmly. Olivia looked him up and down and slung her bag over her shoulder.  
“I did.”  
“The job almost went completely south because of her. You need-”  
“Shut up Shayne, I have it under control.” Olivia said harshly, cutting him off. She huffed, then rubbed her her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair. “I’m sorry.”  
“I know.” He said back. Shayne placed his hand on her shoulder and steadied her. She looked up at him for a bit then brushed it off. They walked out the hotel door together and up to the roof where they knew a helicopter would be waiting for them. “So where are you headed after this?” Shayne asked.  
“I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll spend time in Paris and visit Ian, or possibly Dubai to get some sun. Either way I know you’ll be there with me so I know there’s no point in you asking that question.” Shayne smirked and nodded, then threw on his sunglasses and Olivia put on hers. The top of the hotel was windy and loud as they approached the docked helicopter that was ready for take off. They stood outside the door and when it slid open they gasped and took a step back.  
“I see your job was successful, you stole my secrets successfully, you’re hired.” A cunning voice spoke loudly. It came from an Orange haired man dressed in a sharp suit, David Moss, the co president of Padilla industries. Olivia scowled and hopped on board of the helicopter across from him and Shayne got on reluctantly beside her.  
“What are you doing here?” She asked David.  
“The ‘job’ you were assigned by a rival company to infiltrate my mind was a test, a trial to see what you were capable of. I’d say it went perfectly with the exception of the minor incident with the Architect .” David said through the coms of the helicopter. Olivia and Shayne looked at one another with confusion but continued to listen. “I’m here to hire you for a real job, one that asks for the impossible.”  
“The impossible?” Shayne asked.  
“Inception.” David stated simply.  
“Then that truly is impossible.” Shayne said defeatedly. “Inception cannot work, it will not. It requires you to implant an idea in someone’s mind and convince them it was their own. It’s easy to implant an idea in the mind but to convince the person it was truly of their own devices is impossible.” Shayne explained.  
“What’s the idea?” Olivia asked, cutting off Shayne’s rambling.  
“I need Anthony Padilla to commit suicide.” David said calmly. Silence fell over the comms and Olivia furrowed her brows.  
“We don’t deal in jobs that go that dark.” She said, Shayne nodded in agreement.  
“You will if you see what I’m paying you with.” David said in return. Olivia still shook her head.  
“No amount of money could pay for a life. Why do you need him dead anyways?” She asked.  
“Anthony is head of the company, I’m second in command. I want to be first.” David said. He crossed his arms and the helicopter landed at the airport drop off. Olivia and Shayne hopped out and the motor shut down leaving them in silence as the two stood outside.  
“No.” Olivia said as she was about to walk away.  
“Your team members will be paid sufficiently, and I will grant you the ability to return to your home and see your mother.” David said loudly, still in the helicopter. Olivia stopped then turned around.  
“My mother?” She asked.


	2. Explanation of a Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! So far the feedback for this book had been good and I'm really glad that you like it. Feel free to comment your opinions about it because feedback is very helpful. Thank you so much for reading and keeping up with me!

Olivia followed Ian through the garden of the university towards a group of students sitting on a bench and drinking coffee. They all said hello to him and they all spoke to each other for a couple minutes in French until Ian pulled one of them aside and introduced her to Olivia. The girl was short with long brown hair, dark skin, big brown doe eyes, and a wide smile. Ian said her name was Erika Boseman, but everyone called her Boze.   
“Boze, this is my friend Miss Olivia Sui. She has some work available for you.” Ian said as he gestured to Olivia. Olivia stuck her hand out to Boze and the girl shook it firmly. She was smiling excitedly and almost bouncing. Olivia smirked underneath her shades, her excitement was refreshing. Ian smiled, patted Olivia on her shoulder, then left so he could go home for the night and leave the girls alone.   
“So, am I aloud to ask what kind of work you have?” Boze asked as she walked with Olivia.  
“Yes, but in someplace more private. It’s not technically legal.”  
“Wait,” Boze said as she stopped. Olivia stopped with her and waited with her hands in her pockets as Boze was trying to process things, “what on earth do you mean ‘not legal’ is this some type of terrorist thing?” She asked sounding worried. Olivia rolled her eyes under her shades and continued to walk forward.  
“No it’s not terrorism, it’s persuasion. Just with technology we acquired illegally.”  
“What kind of technology?” Boze asked as they left campus.  
“We utilize technology the military developed for soldiers. It takes us into a shared dream state filled with the dreamers subconscious. In these dreams we can obtain information from the dreamers mind or convince them of things. But we need someone to build these dreams and upload them to mind or else we’d be floating in nothing.”  
“Build a dream? How could I come up with that much detail?” Boze asked.  
“It’s more about capturing the feeling of the space. If you notice in any dream it feels insanely real and it does have that amount of detail, once you start building parts of the dream it starts to build itself. Don’t worry, it’s easy.”  
“But is it lucid, can you control the dream?” Olivia paused at Boze’s question and thought about the answer for a moment.   
“There are, influences that can take place but for the most part no. You can’t.” Boze nodded and the two continued walking. “I’m taking you to meet my partner. His name is Shayne and he will teach you how to build mazes and the goal of this job I’m bringing you in on. I need to travel to Germany to find someone.” Olivia said casually. Boze was nodding along and still trying to process everything.

+++

Damien was seated in a small cafe that was in the heart of Berlin. He was sipping on a turkish coffee and enjoying the sunlight and bustling city. The book he was reading, Dante’s Inferno, was riveting and gory. He read it calmly, ignoring some people’s stares as the walked past. Damien read intently and focused on the words, he didn’t even notice a dark haired woman take a seat in front of him in the small cafe.  
“Inferno? I took you as more of a Illiad fan.” Olivia said. This caused Damien to jolt and almost drop his book, breaking his cool facade. Once Damien saw her he stood from his chair and hugged his old friend.  
“I wasn't expecting you, is this a visit or is this for business?” He asked as they returned to their seats.  
“Buisness, I need you on a job. I also need to know the whereabouts of Johnson.” She said as she glanced around the cafe. “But I am staying for the night so I guess this could count as a visit.” Damien smiled his toothy grin and marked his place in his book.  
“Last time I heard Johnson was in Paris with his girlfriend.” Olivia nodded and sent a quick text to Shayne to tell him where Wes was, then she returned to the conversation. “Are you still working with that Shayne Topp guy?” Damien asked. Olivia nodded and Damien smiled even wider, “Oh, then this will be fun. What’s the job?”  
“David Moss had hired us to perform inception.” At that statement Damien nearly spit out his coffee.  
“Impossible.”  
“No, no it’s not.” Olivia reassured. “We have to implant the idea of suicide into the mind of Anthony Padilla.” She informed. Damien sunk down in his chair and tried to process this. Perform inception let alone make the idea suicide. Never in his life had he done or even thought about doing something so dark, so manipulative. Damien considered dropping out but he knew there had to be an incredible reason for Olivia to agree to something like this.   
“How much is Moss paying you?”   
“He’s paying everyone in the team 1.5 million dollars.” Damien whistled at the price.  
“Okay, but how much is he paying you?” He asked, digging deeper. Olivia sighed.  
“He’s clearing my name and letting me go home.” She said quietly. Damien nodded, so the payment was Olivia’s unpayable debt. He finished his drink and put his book in his backpack. “Are you in?” She asked.  
“Notify Moss that you have another team member.” He said back with the same toothy smile.

+++

Shayne was setting up shop in an old warehouse he rented out for cheap. He set up chair in a circle and put together the blackboards they would be using. He checked on the brief cases to make sure everything was in place then he moved on to taking inventory of the sedatives they currently had in stock. It was late evening when Olivia came by and dropped off the new architect, then she headed off to the train station so she could go to Berlin and find Damien.  
The new architect was young and bright and very excited, Shayne noticed that right when she walked in. Her name was Erika but everyone called her Boze, and from the look of her blueprints she had made for Ian’s class, she was very talented. Shayne figured she had to be good if Ian was the one recommending her, he tended to be very picky.   
“So, Miss Sui said something about mazes. How complicated do they have to be?” Boze asked. They were overlooking the city now from the top of one of the buildings. Shayne just shrugged.  
“I’d say complicated enough so we know where we are going but security doesn’t” He explained. Boze’s eyebrows knitted together at the word security so Shayne figured he should start with the basics. “When we make dreams, the intended dreamer fills them with their subconscious. You know how science says that we never imagine people in a dream? Well that’s what I mean, it’s impossible for our minds to think up an incredibly new person from scratch. So in our dreams we will them with people we’ve seen whether we know them personally or if we’ve just seen them passing on the street.” Boze nodded. “But the subconscious can also act as security for someone’s mind. Your mind doesn’t like the artificial dreams that we create so once it figures out that it’s dreaming, the subconscious attacks whoever is messing with the dream or the person who has the artificial dream. They are almost like white blood cells attacking a virus.”  
“But what do you mean ‘the dreamer’ aren’t we all dreaming?” Boze asked.  
“Yes, but the dream itself will start with one person. Say for example we go under and the dream is mine, if you start making changes to this world then my subconscious will attack you. But say for example we go under with one more person, convince them that the dream we are in is theirs but in reality is mine, once the subconscious figures out its dreaming, it will try and attack me o the dream ends. The dream ends once either the time of the tech is up, or once the dreamer dies in the dream.”  
“What happens when the dreamer dies in the dream but people are still in it? Do they wake up or do they die?”  
“The dream will collapse until they get out of there. You really have to experience it once you do it.” Shayne said casually. Then he looked over the rooftop and hopped up on the ledge. In the blink of an eye he jumped off of it and Boze was screaming.  
She looked down at his mutilated body on the concrete, then, the ground of the building started to shake. She fell through the floor onto the second story and got up and started to run. The building was caving in on itself and through the crunching of concrete and bending of pipes Boze continued to run.  
But then she was jolted awake and Shayne was standing over her. She looked down at her right arm and there was an IV suck in it. She was sitting in a lawn chair in an old warehouse, and her breathing was going crazy. “W-What just happened where are we?” She asked sounding terrified.  
“Tell me, how did we get to that rooftop?” Shayne asked. Boze was still shaking and stuttering and she tried to dig in her mind to find the memory, but she couldn’t she had no recollection of coming from the entrance of the warehouse to the top of the random building.  
“What’s happening, what did you do?” She asked.  
“Boze,” Shayne said calmly. He placed his hand on her shoulder, “you were dreaming.” He said. She put the pieces together and nodded. “No one can ever remember the start of a dream, you remember things in the middle of the dream. And what you just experienced was a dream collapsing because it was mine and I died in it.” Boze nodded and felt tears welling up in her eyes. “You did great kid.” Shayne said kindly.


	3. Final Members

Shayne walked down the small cobblestone paths of the little neighborhood in the heart of Paris. Olivia notified him earlier that day that Wes was still living in Paris, he spent all day looking for his whereabouts, it almost seemed impossible until Shayne was mindlessly searching around on Facebook and eventually found Wes. He seemed to be living a peaceful life, no longer working in the black market of dreams but instead working as a boxer. He even had a girlfriend with bright purple hair.  
So after a couple more hours of searching Shayne found Wes’s address and decided he should pay him a visit and possibly convince him to join the team. 1.5 million dollars seemed like a pretty good reward for getting back into dream world, and Wes’s job wasn’t that hard anyways, he was just back up security for the team.   
Once he reached the apartment complex he walked through the lobby and rode up the elevator patiently then walked to apartment 17A which was at the end of the hall. Shayne gave the door a couple of knocks and heard some laughing and shuffling around from the other side. The door swung open and the purple haired girl was standing behind it only in an oversized t-shirt that was practically a dress on her.  
“Uh, hello?” She asked. Shayne took note that she was American like Wes, they probably moved over here after his last job. Her eyebrow was quirked and she looked him up and down and noticed how he was wearing expensive all black designer clothes, something felt off to her.   
“Is Wesley Johnson here?” Shayne asked trying to sound as nice and nonthreatening as possible.  
“Who sent you?” The girl asked quickly.  
“What?”  
“Who sent you? Was it Raub’s guys? You here to rough Wes up for winning the last match?” She asked, her demeanor changed and she was stepping towards him so he would get away from them.  
“Uh, no I’m not. Just tell Wes that a Shayne Topp is here. He knows who I am.” Shayne said calmly. The girl was trying to seem intimidating but honestly she was just so short it was hard to take her seriously.   
“Yeah, yeah. I know who you are Shayne.” Wes said as he walked towards the door and opened it further. He was wiping himself off with a towel and was only wearing a pair of gym shorts. He looked different from the last time Shayne saw him, he had more muscle and silver and shorter hair.  
“You know this guy?” The purple haired girl asked curiously.  
“We used to work together, calm down Mari.” He said after ruffling her hair. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist. “So, what are you doing here?” He asked.  
“Olivia needs you for a job.”  
“No” Wes said shortly.  
“Wes ple-”  
“No Shayne, just no.” Wes said abruptly. He put the towel that was slung around his neck onto the counter and walked over to the stove where he started to boil water for tea. “That life is behind me, I’m not going back. No matter what the pay is.” Mari listened intently as her boyfriend and the blond stranger talked.  
“Is this about the dream stuff?” She asked. Wes nodded and Shayne took a seat at the small kitchen table. Wes grabbed a few mugs for everyone.   
“Wes, completing this job will allow Olivia to go back home.” Shayne said, Wes stopped moving around the kitchen and stood with his back facing the group. He took a long breath and hung his head, contemplating what he just heard.   
“She gets her freedom?” He asked softly.  
“Yes, and you’ll get 1.5 million dollars.” Shayne said back. Mari whistled at the price. Wes turned around with three steaming mugs of tea in his hands and sat down at the table.   
“Fine, whatever. But after this I’m done, for good.” Shayne smiled happily, Wes looked concerned, and Mari was mainly confused. 

+++

Olivia was still with Damien only this time they were taking a pit stop in Frankfurt to meet with their chemist. Damien had heard about two men who make a sedative so strong it could keep people knocked out for up to 15 hours, and he assumed the job would take almost that amount of time if they were to complete such a thing as inception. The chemists names were Joshua Ovenshire and Matthew Sohinki and worked out of a small herb shop in Frankfurt.   
The two walked through the bustling city in Germany and finally came upon the small shop that was tucked away in a dark alley. They walked inside and heard the small jingle of the bell above the door and wandered around the cluttered shelves filled with different types of teas and remedies.   
“Hallo?” A man said, Olivia peered out from behind a shelf and saw a man who was slightly taller than her with scruff, dark brown hair, and tired eyes.   
“Matthew Sohinki?” Damien asked as he came from around the corner. The man nodded and Damien smiled. “Good, just the man we are looking for. You speak english right? The rumor was that you were American.” Matthew nodded his head and a taller man with darker hair and glasses came out from the back room. Olivia presumed he was Joshua Ovenshire.  
“Most people dealing in dreams are American.” Joshua said. “It’s a cutthroat method of manipulation and thievery. What can we assist you with?” He asked nicely as he restocked a shelf that held dried up basil leaves.   
“You know that we deal with dreams?” Olivia asked. Both men nodded and smiled.  
“We recognise you Miss Sui, I mean, you are known to be the best extractor out there. And I presume you’re Shayne Topp?” Matthew asked.  
“Unfortunately no, I’m Damien Haas.” Damien said with a wider smile, he stuck out his hand for the two men to shake and Olivia followed suit.   
“Ah, the forger.” Joshua said. Damien nodded curtly and Olivia folded her arms in gesture that she wanted to get on with business. The brunette nodded and allowed her to speak.   
“Shayne Topp is actually in Paris at the moment, the place we need the two of you to be. We have a job that requires your strengthened sedatives.” Olivia stated.   
“What’s the job?” Matt asked.  
“We need to perform inception for David Moss, I’ll go into detail later but I need to know now if your sedatives will allow us to go three dreams deep.”  
“Three?” Damien asked under his breath, slightly shocked.  
“Three is quite a lot Miss Sui, and isn’t inception impossible?” Josh asked. Olivia shook her head no and Josh just looked at her skeptically. “Yes, our sedatives can go three dreams deep.” Olivia then clapped her hands together and smiled.  
“Good, then bring whatever you need, our train leaves in an hour. Accommodations have already been made for your stay in Paris, I’ll notify Moss about the two of you being added to the team.” Olivia pulled out their train tickets and they took them skeptically. “Meet us at the station.” They nodded and Damien and Olivia walked out of the small shop. 

+++

Olivia was awake in her first class train cabin. It was past midnight and in a couple of hours they would all be in Paris in time for breakfast. She had already texted Shayne and David about the new additions to the team but something was still nagging in the back of her mind. She stared outside the window and the passing scenery that was illuminated by the moon. 

Blond hair.  
Green eyes.  
Hotel balcony.

Images flashed in her head and Olivia winced at the thought of them. The touched her skin, it was in a cold sweat and her hair was sticking to the back of her neck. She knew Damien was next door but they weren’t close enough for him to understand, she needed Shayne but he was most likely asleep and she didn’t feel like inconveniencing him. They had a long day ahead of them now that the team was assembled and David Moss was most likely to make an appearance soon.  
So instead Olivia just suffered through the panic attack and let her mind take her to dark places and let her mind continuously flow into panic. She rustled through her duffle bag until she found it, the weighted marble. She found walked over to the small desk area located in the cabin and raised her arm then dropped the marble. Once it hit the desk it rolled to the right and Olivia let out a shaky breath, she wasn’t dreaming and this was real.   
Olivia walked back to the small bed and clutched the marble as she laid back down under the sheets. Her breath started to return to normal and her eyes began to flutter shut.


	4. Anxieties

Wes came to the warehouse for the first time when Olivia and the rest of the team arrived from Germany. Mari drove them there in case when he got off work he wasn’t able to drive himself home, the shared dream state took a toll on his mind and body. The two rolled up in Mari’s BMW M3 at 7:00 in the morning, Wes was already sweating and strands of his silver hairs were stuck to his face and neck.  
“Wesley, look at me.” Mari said calmly. Wes looked at her with wide eyes and a quivering lip. He had been out of the game for so long, the dream scape scared him. It was a world without boundaries, or Mari, the woman who kept him grounded. “You’re going to be fine, I know it. Do you want me to walk you up?”  
“I don’t want you to meet these people, they’re criminals.”  
“Wesley, you used to do this too. And it’s not like your life as a boxer is completely legal all the time.” Mari said back, Wes sighed and Mari turned off the car and got out. Wes soon got out, reluctantly, and the two walked towards the entrance of the warehouse. Mari lightly knocked on it and soon it was opened up by Shayne.  
“Oh hello Mari, are you dropping Wes off?” He asked with his signature smile. The purple haired woman nodded and Shayne stepped aside to let the two of them into the warehouse. Wes immediately felt uncomfortable. The room was filled with faces he thought he would forget and equipment he thought he would never see again. And it didn’t help that everyone else was wearing designer clothes, Shayne in a fancy leather jacket made by Michael Kors, Olivia in an all black ensemble probably made by Gucci or some other overpriced brand. He felt out of place in his ripped jeans and sweatshirt.   
But out of the corner of his eye he saw a girl of small stature waiting around nervously in the corner. She had dark skin and hair, and was also in casual clothing and reasonably priced shoes, unlike Damien’s Louboutin shoes. Wes gave the girl a small wave and smile and her face immediately melted into a smile, she probably felt just as out of place as he did.   
They all mingled for a bit and Damien kept telling Mari jokes that made her throw back her head and laugh, Wes smiled at the sight, he wished he never dragged her to this place. Soon it was time for Mari to leave and she left Wes with a kiss and kind smile, he savored the warmth her hug gave him and in the blink of an eye she was gone and he was left in a warehouse full of people he regretted meeting. Everyone else was still waiting around, the chemists were speaking with one another, Olivia sat alone like always, and Shayne was on the phone with someone. Wes walked over to the young woman so he could introduce himself.   
“I don’t believe we’ve met yet,” He said as he stuck his hand out to the stranger, “my name’s Wes and I hope you feel just as uncomfortable as I do.” The girl laughed and shook his hand firmly.   
“I’m Erika, but everyone calls me Boze. What exactly is your job here?” She asked sweetly. Wes sighed at the question because his answer was almost embarrassing. He was a bullet stopper, an expandible, what someone would call ‘the muscle’.   
“Backup security.” He stated as he pushed the previous names for his job aside. He created the name ‘backup security’ a long time ago so he would feel more important and lessen his anxieties, it kind of worked, but Mari insisted he was always important.   
“Backup security?” Boze asked with one eyebrow quirked.   
“I do all the fighting with the subconscious so you don’t have to. The mind can get pretty nasty, I just make sure it doesn’t kill you or anyone else on the team.” He explained.   
“So you must be the best of the best.” Boze stated.  
“No, no I don’t think that. There are others who I would say are better.” Wes said with wavering confidence.   
“Well I assume you’re the best of the best, that’s what it seems like everyone else is. According to Professor Hecox Olivia is the best extractor, Shayne the most intelligent point man, Damien the most talented forger, and the two chemists are the smartest in the field of sedatives and natural remedies.”  
“I think I’m the outlier.” Wes said quietly. Boze nudged him with her arm.  
“I think I am too, I’m just a student after all.” Wes smiled at her statement but shortly after their attention was drawn to the door of the warehouse. Olivia was opening it and welcoming in David Moss himself and a woman who was most likely his assistant. Shayne ended his phone call and everyone else stopped talking.   
Olivia welcomed the businessman and his assistant who was clutching a file book and pen. Wes looked at the two of them and rolled his eyes. ‘Great.’ he thought to himself, ‘More people in one million dollar clothes’.

+++

The idea of suicide irked at Olivi for days. How was she to convince a man that he should kill himself without directly telling him to? And how would she make it subtle enough so she doesn’t go crazy herself? The thought plagued her mind all during her trip to Germany and on the train ride home. It wasn’t until she saw the flash of blond hair that she realised how she would do it.  
“We have to convince Anthony Padilla that the world we live in isn’t real.” She stated simply. Shayne nodded his head with brows furrowed in concentration and David seemed impressed with it.   
“So we convince him that the dream world is reality?” Joven asked.  
“Or that any world isn’t real. It has to plague his mind like a disease, confuse him in every way possible so that he only finds solace in death.” Olivia explained.  
“Insanity, you’re asking for insanity.” Damien said.  
“Inception is what she’s asking for, also known as the impossible.” Shayne replied. Damien shot the blond a smirk and settled himself in his chair. Olivia rolled her shoulders.  
“It’s not impossible and you and I both know it’s been done before.” Olivia defended.  
“Yeah, rumors back in 2010.” Wes spoke up. He was still unsure about the concept of inception let alone the use of it to create the idea of suicide.   
“Inception is possible but it’s dangerously impossible.” Shayne said while giving Olivia a look.   
“It’s possible and that’s final.” Olivia said loudly. “We are going three dreams deep for this so it had to be good, it has to be great. Anthony Padilla needs to believe that the world we live in is no longer real.” And with that the team got to work.

+++

It had been a few days since the first meeting with David and everyone else. Boze had her hands full of mazes and levels she had to create. Shayne said they were impressive and he brought her back into the dream state to show her some tips and tricks for her mazes. She found it helpful but one thing bothered her about the mission.  
“Professor Hecox mentioned something about Olivia being an architect. What ever happened to that?” Boze asked as she crafted a 3D model of one of her dreams. Shayne looked at her and for a second, sadness flashed in his eyes.  
“Originally she was an architect, someone else taught her how to extract.”  
“Who was that?”  
Shayne hesitated before answering. “Stop crafting and sit down, there’s someone you need to know about for the safety of this job.” He said quietly so no one would hear them.


	5. Past Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for updating so late, but I had time to write today because I was home sick. I hope everyone had a happy Halloween and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

It was a normal job. Olivia was hired to build an intense dreamscape involving a twisting city and underground tunnels to hide the rest of the team members. It was business as usual, Ian would find her a job and she would work with the team for about a week, learn their objective, build the dream, then receive her payment a couple weeks later. It was her system and sometimes she would run into a few familiar faces, mainly Shayne Topps, but for the most part she was unattached.   
But somehow this job was different, this time she would be working with the one and only Courtney Miller, also known as the best extractor in the market. Olivia had met her briefly in the past at some fancy party but never had she worked a job with the legendary figure. To say she was nervous for this job was an understatement.  
Yet despite what Olivia thought Courtney Miller wasn’t like anything Olivia had ever expected. Courtney was down to earth, humble, and one of the kindest people she had ever met. Nothing like the stuck up extractor Olivia thought the woman would be, extractors were known to be stuck up after all. So as Olivia joined the team along side Shayne Topp, Wesley Johnson, and Damien Haas she found herself falling into a state of attraction for the team leader.   
However, Olivia’s feelings didn’t become unrequited ones, in fact Courtney felt herself feeling the same way. So instead of letting Olivia leave after she created the winding maze of a city, she asked the raven haired woman to stay with her and the rest of the team, and even give her lessons on extracting. Olivia couldn’t pass down an offer like that so she stayed and the job went on.   
And it went not just well but instead fantastically and the team all went back to Paris to share drinks with Ian who was happy for his friends success. They all laughed and their money was transferred into their accounts and everything was good, so good to the point where Courtney made a proposal. The proposal was that they stick together, they all worked well together anyways and why mess with something this good? The five agreed and it was set in stone, they were a team now and that’s how it would be.   
As time went on and they all worked more jobs together Olivia and Courtney found themselves growing closer to each other to the point where one night they shared a moment of passion in a five star hotel room. Olivia woke up to the blond nestled into her arms, smudged eye makeup, and a blaring alarm on her phone telling her she was five minutes late to getting down to the lobby where everyone planned on meeting up before catching their plane. The girls rushed around the hotel room and giggled as they rode the elevator down to the lobby where they met Wes, Damien, and Shayne who were all smirking and rolling their eyes. From that point on, the rest was history.   
Olivia ended up bringing Courtney to China about three months into their relationship, the longest relationship either of them had ever been in. And the purpose of travelling to China other than Olivia to showcase her heritage was do Courtney could meet Olivia’s mother.   
Now Olivia’s mother was someone she liked to keep private not out of embarrassment but rather out of safety. She was defenseless after all and working in the black market would sometimes lead to some pissed off clients. Olivia’s mother was her best friend, bu was also spending her days cooped up in a hospital bed due to some incurable illness that Olivia didn’t know how to pronounce. The majority of Olivia’s paychecks went to her mother's treatment or to the hospital’s research facility.   
But even though she was limited to a hospital bed Olivia’s mother was still lively as ever and expressed her love to Courtney. And when Olivia stepped out of the room for a brief moment Courtney asked the woman for her blessing, and it was given kindly.   
Several months later the girls would be getting married in China. The wedding would be beautiful and filled with red roses. Olivia wore a traditional Chinese wedding dress made out of the finest materials and hand sewn golden embroidery. Courtney would wear a wedding dress designed by Vera Wang. They would both look stunning with their hair nicely styled and their makeup all done up, and both would cry when they see each other walking down the isles. Over the course of time Shayne and Olivia had also grown much closer to one another and the same would go for Courtney, Wes, and Damien. So of course Ian and Shayne acted as Olivia’s wedding party and Wes and Damien would do the same for Courtney. The wedding was stunning and high end, and Olivia’s mother was able to leave her hospital bed to attend.   
After the honeymoon the girls would return to Paris where they would buy an apartment together. They talked about adopting but put it on hold till their careers in dreams ended, until then they settled with the life they had. When they weren’t on a job they were at home experimenting with their dream technology, testing their limits, learning things, and becoming stronger in their creations. This, was the start of their downfall.   
Soon the experimenting became something else, something darker. Olivia and Courtney were testing how far they could go with dreams to the point they needed sedatives to keep their dreamstates stable, and the stronger the sedative the further at risk they were to getting to a point they could never return. It was with Courtney’s insistence that they go deeper, and deeper they did until they hit the one point, Limbo, a state filled with raw and pure subconscious.   
In just a few hours in real time they reacher almost fifty years in dream time. Courtney and Olivia acted as gods in the state of Limbo, designed a world, a perfect world that they could live in. They filled it with nameless faces and soon enough they grew old together in this world. Spent their life together there, to the point one of them forgot a life existed out of this place.  
Courtney forgot they were in a dream, but she intended to. Years prior she had hidden away her totem, an object that would remind her of whether she was dreaming or not. It was a small, metal marble that she would drop on a surface, if it would roll she was out of the dream state but if it hit the surface and stayed put then it would mean she was in one. Olivia soon realised that Courtney had forgotten that the world they lived in wasn’t reality. She wouldn’t listen to Olivia pleads to leave the dream, it was Courtney’s dream after all, she had the main controls.   
So instead Olivia searched until she found the totem, locked away in a safe somewhere hidden in their city. Olivia picked up the small yet heavy marble and dropped it a foot above the surface of the safe. It hit it with a loud clank and all movement in the city stopped. Something flickered in Courtney’s mind and she came up with the idea that she was still dreaming. Olivia embraced Courtney’s subconscious ripping them to shreds. She was finally free.   
They woke up in a haze, their previously wrinkled skin was smooth and young. They had grown old together but not at all. Courtney’s mind was in shambles and no amount of comfort from Olivia could fix it. From that moment on nothing was the same, Courtney felt like nothing was real like she was still dreaming. She insisted to Olivia that they still had one layer left and despite Olivia’s protests she still believed they were still dreaming.   
Olivia asked Ian what they could do but neither of them knew how they could help. All they could come up with is that she was depressed and needed help, but neither of them could take the step to get her help.   
Then the fateful night came. It was their wedding anniversary and the women were spending it in their normal sweet in China, in the exact same hotel they got married in. Olivia walked in wearing an Oscar De La Renta dress that Courtney picked out for her and was carrying expensive champagne. She heard her wife call her out onto the balcony. When she walked out she saw Courtney also in her expensive gown, sitting on the ledge of the building.   
“Courtney, honey, what are you doing?” Olivia asked cautiously.   
“We have to leave Olivia, leave the dream.” Courtney said calmly. She looked over her shoulder at Olivia.   
“Courtney please get down from the ledge.” Olivia pleaded. Courtney simply shook her head no and dropped one of her heels. It fell from it’s high place and Olivia shuddered at the thought of it plummeting to the ground.   
“I wrote letters Olivia?”  
“What?”  
“I wrote letters, how I feared for my life. How you abuse me. How you hurt me.” Courtney said as she looked at the ground far far below.  
“Why, Courtney why?” Olivia asked.  
“Because Olivia.” Courtney whispered as she brushed hair behind her ear, “because if you don’t jump then you get arrested, you never get to come back to China, you get charged with abuse and the attempted murder of your mother.”  
“My mother? What does she have to do with any of this?”  
“I needed something to push you. So I injected some fancy chemical into your mother’s body that made her go into shock and fall into a coma so deep no one will know when she will wake up.” Olivia’s eyes were wide with shock and she stumbled backwards. “Jump.” Courtney whispered.  
“No.” Olivia protested.  
“Fine.” Courtney said, and with that she fell off the balcony and her body tumbled to the ground below. Silence filled Olivia’s ears, then a crack, then the sound of her screaming. She cried on the balcony and soon police sirens were heard and she knew she had to leave. Olivia ran, ran back to Paris and hid in Ian’s apartment because hers was a crime scene. The team ended and so did her ability of being an architect. And Courtney Miller haunted her dreams. 

+++

Boze shuddered at the horror story Shayne had just told her. Now she understood why Olivia could no longer built but instead extract. She understood why Olivia couldn’t tell what reality was and what Shayne meant when he referenced the ‘ghost’. Then she wondered what she got herself into.


	6. Preparations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm so sorry this update is coming so late. I've been so busy with school work and grades making me way too tired to write. I'll really tray and post again sooner so you guys don't have to wait. Also I would just like to say that usually at this point in the year I get stressed and want someone to talk to. So if you guys need to talk I'm always ready to listen. My email is on my profile so if you ever need someone to rant to are just talk to, feel free to email me. I cab promise you that I'll respond way faster than I update.

Preparation for the job was running smoothly. The team finished brainstorming on how they would manipulate the mind of Anthony Padilla and David’s assistant found a way they could do the job. Anthony frequently takes a flight from Paris to Beijing, China once every three weeks on business. The flight is ten hours and five minutes long, enough time for the team to complete their job considering the dream world takes up more time than the real one. The plane used is a 747 meaning the first class cabin takes up the nose of the plane rather than the pilot area, so the team would go undisturbed. David booked tickets for all the team members including himself and Sarah and also notified Anthony that he would be accompanying him on his next trip.   
Boze had completed building her dream scapes and Shayne downloaded them into the tech. The first level was going to take place in the winding city of Beijing. Anthony was supposed to think he had landed. He should spawn into the dream outside the airport and from there he would take a cab, driven by Shayne and Damien, to his hotel. His hotel was the real place where the dream would take place.   
In the hotel he would come in contact with Olivia where she would inform him that he was dreaming and the only way to wake him up is if she wired him up. Anthony was supposed to believe that once he was wired up he would wake up, making the second layer of the dreamscape the airplane. Boze already had a detailed outline of what plane they were taking and what the interior looked like. Anthony was supposed to believe that he had woken up and the second layer was the real reality. From there, the plane was simulated to crash and he was to think he was going to die. From that point he would be sedated and put into the third and final dreamscape.   
The third dreamscape was to take place back in Paris. Anthony was meant to believe that he hadn’t even left Paris yet. It would take place in the airport and at this point his mind would be in a frenzy. Olivia predicted that he would have a panic attack as the dream time ran out. During this time they would all have to create ‘kicks’ that would wake them up from their dream worlds.   
To complete the kicks, Sohinki and Joven were meant to stay behind in the first dream world and Shayne would be left behind in the second. To signal Shayne that the kick was coming on they would play music in his ears and once the song reached a certain point they would all set their kicks off, and everyone would wake up. It seemed simple, yet everyone was worried something would go wrong.   
Boze was just happy to hear that Olivia and the others were satisfied with their dream worlds. So on the final day before the job would take place she packed up her materials and left happily. She was planning on going back to the university where Ian would help her make her totem.

+++

Shayne stayed behind in the warehouse to make sure everything was set for the next day. He packed up the rest of the tech and stored them in their bullet proof cases, looked over Boze’s models one more time so he surely had them memorized, and grabbed the rest of his things so he could take them back to his small apartment in Paris. Just as he was about to leave he heard shuffling behind him. Shayne turned around to see a smirking Damien behind him.  
“H-How long have you been there?” Shayne asked nervously. He ran his fingers through his perfectly styled hair and adjusted his button up. Damien just smiled and sat down in a nearby chair.  
“Long enough to watch you go over your mental checklist two or three times. If you're known for anything Shayne it’s how structured you are.” Damien said casually. Shayne started to sweat, being around Damien always made him nervous. Not because he was dangerous or anything, but because the man would always make Shayne feel so on edge, so not put together. Damien made him feel reckless, something he did not want.   
Shayne’s phone started to buzz in his pocket and when he pulled it out he saw it was a call from his brother. “Tanner still pestering you?” Damien asked slyly. Shayne put the phone back in his pocket and let it ring. He could talk to Tanner later.  
“Three months ago he found out his wife was having an affair with one of his co-workers. He tried to commit suicide after the divorce. So yes, we keep in touch.” Shayne said shortly. He hated how rude he sounded, he always sounded overly bitter when he spoke to Damien. It was a defense mechanism, his feelings towards the other man were complicated.  
“Oh.” Was the only thing Damien said. Shayne finished up cleaning the warehouse and sighed.   
“Once this job is over Tanner will be moving to Paris with me. My apartment is big enough for two, change will be good for him.” Shayne said sounding less upset. Damien looked up from where he was staring at the floor.  
“Where’s he living now?” Damien asked.  
“The states, LA to be specific. But I think a change in environment will help him feel better. Too many things tie him to his ex in California.”  
“What about your parents?”  
“Tanner is my only living relative.” Shayne said quietly. Damien nodded in response. He related, his father passed away when he was young but at least his mother still lived with him in Germany. But he didn’t want to bring that up. It would make him feel like he was bragging.   
“See you tomorrow?” Damien asked. Shayne nodded and Damien gave him a pat on the back after he put his leather jacket over his shoulders.  
“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Shayne replied. He locked up the warehouse after he left and hopped into his car. 

+++

Olivia smiled as she sipped her drink. She was at a bar near her Paris apartment and was meeting up with some close friends. She had known Noah and Keith before she even got into the world of dreams, but they kept her grounded and happy. They were outsiders, knew nothing about what she did for a living. All they knew was that she was a photographer for a freelance magazine which is why she left town so often. She went to university with them, Noah in fashion and design, Keith in art history, and Olivia in architecture with a minor in photography.   
Noah was talking about how he finally got his website up for his personal clothing brand and how Yves Saint Laurent was looking at some of his designs. Olivia felt happy for her friends. She showed the boys a couple of shots she had taken of the scenery back in Spain where she had completed a job a few months back. Taking photos wasn’t a lie, she liked to do some photography in her spare time, she just didn’t do it for a living.   
After a couple more hours at the bar Olivia parted ways with her friends and went back to her apartment where she finished packing for her trip. Her hands shook as she folded her clothes and she figured she would have to make a call to Flitz.  
“Olivia, it’s been over six weeks since you last called.” A voice spoke over the phone. Flitz was her therapist that Ian recommended she get. She rarely spoke to him and mainly spoke to Shayne about her problems.  
“I know, I know. I’ve just been struggling.”  
“Too much to talk to Shayne?” Olivia rolled her eyes. Flitz was smart but also a smart ass. “What seems to be the problem?” He asked more seriously.  
“She’s visiting again. I have an important job tomorrow and I’m afraid she will interfere.” Olivia spoke softly.  
“Olivia, she isn’t real anymore.”  
“But it feels so real-”  
“I know, it always does. But you need to resist temptation. If you’re scared that she will interfere then she will. She feeds off of what you’re scared of Olivia.” Flitz said reassuringly over the phone. Olivia settled into a chair and prepared herself for a long night ahead.


	7. The Night Before

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! So sorry for such the late update, it's been hard to write with the various things happening in my life but don't worry! I have not forgotten about my stories. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy.

Shayne awoke in his bed with arms wrapped around his bare torso and faint breaths hitting his skin. He groaned and rolled over to look out the window. The curtains were open, revealing the dark sky with the moon still out. Memories of the events from a few hours prior started to flood his mind.   
Shayne heard a knock on his door just after he had finished packing for the trip. It was late, nearing midnight. He had called his brother again and they spoke for awhile, he finally managed to convince Tanner to move to Paris with him. Then he finished packing, then there was the knock on his door. Before answering me grabbed a small handgun with a silencer already screwed on, only very few people knew of the location of his Paris apartment and none of them would visit him at a time like this. He answered to a smirking Damien leaning up against his doorway while a leather duffle bag was slung over his shoulder.   
“What the hell is this?” Shayne asked. His eyebrows were knitted together in confusion and he felt the back of his neck already start to get sweaty.  
“Can I crash with you tonight? I accidentally rented the room in my hotel a day short.”  
“You don’t have a place in Paris?”  
“What? No! I don’t spend time in Paris as often as you and Olivia. The only place I own in Europe is in Germany, my personal apartment.” Shayne rolled his eyes and Damien continued to look smug.  
“You can’t stay here. This is my apartment.” Shayne stuttered. The argument was weak and he already knew Damien was going to find a way to stay at his place. But for now putting up a front wouldn’t make him seem desperate.  
“So, you’ve let Olivia stay here before. It’s not like you live in a hole in the wall.” Damien fired back. Shayne looked him in the eye and moved out of the way and let him in. Damien did a quick fist pump and cackled as he walked in the lavish apartment.   
Shayne’s paris apartment was the nicest out of all the ones he owned, which really says something considering they were all very nice. Damien took off his shoes by the door, he knew Shayne was a stickler for wearing shoes in people’s houses. The floor was marble with a thick, hang embroidered rug leading to the bedroom. The kitchenette was tasteful and minimalist and the art on the walls was abstract and colorful. The windows were big and had a view of the city and a record player was playing soft tuned of George Gershwin in the back of the bedroom. Damien smiled, he always like Shayne’s expensive taste.   
Damien looked at Shayne and took in the sight which caused Shayne to feel embarrassed. The blond was only wearing black Calvin Klein boxer briefs and a fitted white t-shirt. He was planning on going to bed. Damien was dressed in loose fitting sweatpants and a sweatshirt, but his shoes were expensive and so were the classic Ray Ban eyeglasses on his face. Shayne fisted some of his shirt and walked uncomfortably to the hall closet where he started to pull out spare blankets and pillows for Damien.   
“You can sleep on the couch, Olivia says it’s comfortable and if it can fit her tastes then it can for yours.” He spoke stiffly. Shayne started to put together the bedding on the couch and Damien watched him.  
“No thanks, I’d rather sleep in the bed.” Damien said casually. Shayne stopped what he was doing and glared at Damien.  
“I let you stay in my place and you insist on the bed? Get the hell out of my apartment Damien, we have an important job to complete tomorrow. Olivia’s future depends on it.” Shayne said sternly. Damien took a step forward, the smug look still plastered on his face. He looked down at Shayne and Shayne felt threatened. While he had more muscle than Damien the brunette was still taller and on top of that he seemed to have much more confidence and control over the situation.   
“I want the bed and everything that comes with it. Including you and your stupidly expensive Ralph Lauren bed set.” Damien said in practically a whisper. Shayne looked confused and the second he realised what the other man had just said he felt lips pressing on his and hands carding through his hair.  
Everything happened so quickly. Soon Shayne’s shirt was off and so was Damien’s sweatshirt. Their hot bodies pressed together as the walked or rather stumbled to the bedroom together. Damien dug his fingernails in Shayne’s back, Shayne gasped at the feeling and forgot about the marks it would leave in the morning. They fell onto the bed and lost the rest of their clothing. Damien was kneeling over Shayne, both completely naked and gasping for air. Shayne’s polished blond hair was messed up and he looked like a completely different person and Damien’s glasses were someplace on the floor. While his vision was slightly blurred he could still see Shayne’s toned and sweaty body.  
“God, you’re so pretty.” Damien murmured. Shayne squirmed at the comment.  
“Shut the fuck up.” Shayne spat back. He hated this, he hated ow vulnerable and powerless he felt and most importantly he hated how much he loved it. They had done this once before, many years ago when they were younger and more experienced.  
They clashed together again in raging passion and grabbed at each other skin. Damien maintained control and on top of Shayne. He started to palm Shayne and Shayne groaned at the teasing. After a few moments more Damien truly got to work and after a couple more Shayne let out a long moan signaling his orgasim and Damien rolled off of him happily.   
Eventually Shayne fell asleep curled up in Damien’s arms, exhausted and wrecked. Then he woke up while it was still dark out wrapped in the same arms he fell asleep in.   
“Fuck.” He whispered quietly to himself. He had been defeated, his facade shattered. He let the anger and the hatred towards himself get the best of him for the moment, he had to get his feelings out now before the job the next morning. But despite the feelings of hatred towards himself he couldn’t escape the thoughts of pleasure and ecstasy in his mind. Damien did wonders to his body and he wished they had never stopped.  
Shayne nestled himself deeper into Damien’s hold and let himself stay vulnerable for now. One night couldn’t hurt. The blond fell back asleep and both lept soundly until Shayne’s alarm pounded into their brains and they had to get out of the plush bed.  
Both packed the rest of their things silently and dressed for the flight> Shayne was in an expensive gray Brooks Brothers suit with a crisp white shirt and blue tie. He paired it with leather penny loafers and styled his hair so it was slick and professional as always. Damien threw on his glasses and perfected his messy quiff that he wore with a Michael Kors leather jacket and white t-shirt with a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans and expensive shoes. They headed to the hairport in a cab and met with the rest of the team at around 5:40 in the morning.   
The team was groggy but dressed to impress and ready to go. They met up in a small cafe after going through security. There they ordered coffees and went over the plan multiple times so they could get it ingrained into their heads. David wasn’t there yet, he would be arriving with Anthony in a personal town car later, the rest of the team was extremely early anyways. But Olivia trusted David enough to know that he would show and besides, his assistant Sarah was with them anyways.   
Olivia sipped her coffee and bounced her leg erratically. This job would determine her future, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. While she knew she was going to be able to pull it off a part of her mind was still nagging and saying she couldn’t. But then again, that could be a much darker voice.  
Soon it was almost 7 AM and Sarah received a text from David that he had arrived at the airport with Anthony. The team took their cues and headed to the gate where they all sat away from one another, acting as if they had never met one another in their entire lives. In fifteen minutes Sarah, Anthony, and David were all seen walking to the gate while making casual conversation. They sat across from boze in the terminal as she pretended to read the latest issue of Vogue Paris. She overheard them talk about stocks and business deals she couldn’t understand.  
Shayne was in the row behind her a could seats away. He was also reading something and Wes was a couple seats away texting on his phone, she presumed it was Mari. The rest of the team was spread out variously throughout the gate and didn’t even make eye contact with each other. Joven was in possession of the briefcase which held the dream device and he would bring it on as a carry one. Sohinki had the drugs that would knock Anthony out.  
Boze replayed all the mazes in her mind and mentally prepared herself for the upcoming flight ahead. Just before she broke out into a full on panic attack a flight attendant announced that they would begin with boarding. Boze took a deep breath and stood up when they called for first class.


	8. The First Layer

Olivia got comfortable in her first class seat. She boarded fourth, right behind David, Anthony, and Sarah. The seats is the first class cabin were set up as if it was almost a lounge. The seats were large and lined the sides of the plane which left a large space in the middle where there was a table set up and an area in the front where the flight attendants worked. Olivia had the seat behind Anthony and David was in front of him. Sarah was closer to the middle-back of the plane where boze was. Damien, Joven, Matt, and Shayne were on the other side of the plane. Wes was behind Olivia and was helping Sarah put her back in the overhead compartment.  
From across the plane Shayne gave Olivia a reassuring nod that was low key enough for Anthony not to notice, even though he wasn’t paying attention anyways. Shayne then went on reciting the plan in his head a few more times and he nodded to the flight attendant David had hired to help with the whole operation. The flight attendant was to make sure no one even got close to the first class cabin and she was going to help set up equipment for the first dream sequence. He felt his palms become clammy but pushed that to the back of his mind for the moment.  
Takeoff came quickly and once it was announced that people could roam freely without their seatbelts on the team got to work. The flight attendant came around taking drink orders and Anthony had ordered a black coffee with three sugar packets on the side. As the flight attendant poured the coffee, David turned around to ask Anthony’s opinion on a business proposal and while he distracted Anthony the attendant poured a small portion of one of Matt and Joshua's sedatives into his coffee. The team watched with a careful eyes, peaking out from behind their phones or magazines and waited in agony as Anthony poured each individual sugar packet in at a terribly slow rate. He then took a sip of coffee and soon a couple more.   
Anthony’s eyes dropped and he slumped into his seat, the second his body completely relaxed the team worked at supersonic speed to get things set up. The flight attendant locked the door leading to the cabin and Shayne opened the briefcase and quickly unraveled the IV’s. Matt and Josh rechecked the dosage of sedative and gave the okay. Everyone then proceeded to shove an IV into their forearm and the attendant placed one into Anthony’s. Olivia watched as the unknown woman pressed the button in the middle of the tech which started the shared dream scape, and she felt her eyelids droop shut. 

+++

Olivia stood on a street corner in Beijing, a city she hadn’t seen in years. It was evening and the city was already lit up and moving wildly. A black SUV pulled up next to her and rolled down its window, it was Damien and in the passenger seat was Shayne. She climbed in and looked in the rear view mirror where she saw another SUV trailed a few cars behind them. In that car was Boze and the two chemists. Wes was working on his part of the job.  
The second Wes got into the dream he climbed into one of the SUV’s Boze had placed in the dream for the team and threw on an inconspicuous baseball cap and shades. He pulled the car up to the main entrance of the airport where Anthony, David, and Sarah were waiting. All three climbed in and he listened to them ramble on about things in their company as he drove them to the hotel Boze had constructed. Once there, all three got out of the car and Wes helped them with their luggage. He watched them walk completely inside and from there he sped away to put the car in the back of the lot. Wes changed out of the clothes he was wearing on the plane into an expensive suit. He concealed the glock and the knife Boze left for him in the glove box, then he walked inside where the rest of the team was.   
Anthony and David were waiting in the lobby while Sarah worked out the ‘reservations’ and Olivia was seen sitting in the lobby on a lounge chair reading a book. Wes gave a slight nod to her and she gave one back. He headed to the bar area where the rest of the team was supposed to be. Boze was seated in the back eating while Matt and Josh were on opposite sides of the room. Shayne was at the bar drinking a whiskey and Damien was at the other end doing the same. Wes took a seat in the middle and ordered a water and waited with the team and the subconscious.  
David said he would get Anthony to come down to the bar after he got settled in which meant they had around 30-45 minutes of waiting. Olivia waited patiently in the lobby and prepared for the role she was going to play.   
According to the information Sarah had given the team Anthony knew about shared dream scapes and how his mind could be vulnerable to extractions. He had been given subconscious training, meaning his mind would fight back if it knew it was dreaming. The people of his subconscious acted as added security and would fight and claw their way to whoever the dreamer was. In this case, it was Sohinki.  
Olivia would be playing the role of Anthony’s ‘head of security’ for his subconscious and would tell him that he was dreaming. However she knew that the second he found out he was dreaming he was most likely going to try and commit suicide. The problem was that while that might’ve worked in any normal dreamscape, in this one it wouldn’t instead Anthony or anyone else who dies in the dream would slip into the raw, unaltered subconscious level of the dream. Their mind would turn to mush and their body would be stuck in a coma. It was a dangerous state and this was a detail that she kept disclosed from the rest of the team.   
Then she saw Anthony exit the elevator along with David and Sarah trailing a few feet behind. They entered the bar, Anthony was wearing a smile, and Olivia followed after a couple of seconds of later. The three were seated at the bar ordering but once Sarah saw Olivia entering out of the corner of her eyes she excused herself. Olivia waited in the doorway keeping a low profile and David continued talking to Anthony for a few more minutes until he took his cue to leave. Olivia took her chance to swoop in. She glanced at her fellow teammates quickly then took the seat next to Anthony.  
“Mr. Padilla, my name is Ms Perlman.” She said confidently. Anthony looked at her confused as he reached for his drink.   
“Um, that seat is reserved for a friend.” He said back wavering on the upset side.  
“Sir, this is a pressing manner-”  
“Is this some type of business deal because you know who I am? I’m sorry but I’m just trying to enjoy some personal time, but I can give you my assistants number.” He interrupted. Olivia looked at him and slightly rolled her eyes.   
“This is a pressing manner Sir.” She said seriously. Anthony frowned at her and set his drink down on the bar rather loudly. “Sir, can I ask how you arrived in Beijing?” He quirked his head at her question.  
“We came from the airport Ms Perlman now may I ask that you leave?”  
“Can you recall any memories from the airport?” Olivia asked. Anthony’s eyebrows furrowed together because he was upset she wasn’t leaving until he actually thought about his memories from the airport but he realised he didn’t have any. All he could remember was the Paris airport and the ride to the hotel. Anthony’s face fell into a panic but Olivia’s eyes stayed cold, calculated.  
“Wh-What is happening? Who are you?” He said frantically.   
“Mr. Padilla my name is Ms Perlman, I’m your head of security in here.”  
“In here?” Anthony asked.  
“Mr. Padilla I must inform you of something important.” Anthony nodded and looked at Olivia with worried eyes. “You’re dreaming Mr. Padilla, none of this is real.” Olivia whispered. The subconscious all stopped moving and looked at Olivia. After a couple seconds they went back to what they were doing. Anthony looked at her again.  
“I’m dreaming?”  
“Yes, you’re dreaming. Walk with me?” Olivia asked as she got up from her seat. Anthony left his and trailed behind her. “Mr. Padilla you’re still on the plane to Beijing, you never arrived here. I believe someone sedated you and placed you in a shared dream state. As your head of security it’s my job to get you out of here without killing you.”  
“Without killing me?” He asked. Anthony ran his fingers through his hair and walked quickly next to Olivia. “I don’t even know who you are, have we ever met?”  
“Yes without killing you. This is a dream after all, so what’s the most common way of exciting a dream?” Olivia asked. Anthony thought for a moment before replying with,  
“Suicide?”  
“Precisely. But it’s my belief that whoever put you here has you under a concentrated sedative so if you did try and commit suicide in the dream then you would slip into raw and unfiltered subconscious.”  
“Excuse me?”  
“It’s a dangerous dream state that would leave your physical body in a coma and your brain would eventually grow to become insane. Nothing is down there Mr. Padilla, nothing. So suicide isn’t an option.” Anthony nodded fervently and continued to follow Olivia as they walked up stairs.  
“That doesn’t answer the question as to who you are.”  
“I’m a projection of your subconscious acting as your head of security. You’ve had dreamscape training haven’t you?” Olivia asked, Anthony nodded. “Then I’m probably just someone you’ve seen passing on the street, in a business meeting, or even another passenger on the plane.” The ended up on the third floor and walked down one of the many hallways. Soon they came across Boze, Shayne, Damien, and Wes. “They’re with me.” Olivia reassured to Anthony who looked terrified.  
They walked into the hotel room where Sohinki and Joven were setting up materials and tech. From behind, Wes stabbed Anthony in the neck and sedated him. His body crumpled to the floor and everyone got to work again. David and Sarah entered the room again as Joven and Sohinki set things up. Wes and Damien lifted Anthony’s body onto one of the beds. Sarah and David helped unwind the IV cords and rechecked the sedatives again.   
“Remember, don’t give me the music too early but don’t give it too late. We have to correspond these kicks as precisely as we can.” Joven rolled his eyes and Sohinki just nodded along.  
“We know Shayne, you’ve told us so many times.” Joeven said reassuringly. Shayne shoved the IV into his arm and laid on the floor next to Damien.   
“Good night Mr. Topp.” Damien said jokingly. Shayne sent him a glare and nudged his leg. Olivia then proceeded to put the IV in her arm and she nodded at Joven and Matt. The first third of the dream was done, but considering how deep they were going she knew it was going to get harder. She pushed lingering thoughts into the back of her head and watched and Joven pressed down on the center button on the tech. Her eyes slipped shut and her mind was transported into the second dream.


	9. Flight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Thank you so much for keeping up with me and reading my stuff, it really means a lot to me and I'm glad yall are liking this story. But I just want to let you guys know that this story will be a little shorter compared to my other ones so in a couple of chapters it will be ending. But don't worry! I totally have another fic planned but I am always open to suggestions so feel free to comment them because I'm all ears! Thank you so much!

They were all back on the plane, this time it was just missing two passengers. Olivia watched as Anthony jolted awake and felt his face and ran his fingers through his hair. She checked her flight timer on the little TV screen connected to her seat and saw they were only about a third of the way through the flight. But that was most likely untrue, while it was only about one third of the way through in the second layer of the dream it was probably almost halfway over in real time. Time did move slower in dreams after all.  
“Was I asleep? What happened?” Anthony whispered, leaning towards David in front of him. He looked completely out of it, dark circles and all. Olivia observed the interaction from behind Anthony.  
“Yeah, yeah you were asleep. You good?” David asked casually. He looked at Anthony’s frantic state with mock concern. Anthony looked around some more and stood up from his seat. Everyone waited patiently as he walked to the small airplane bathroom and watched as he locked the door on the inside. Shayne looked over to where Damien was meant to be sitting but found his partner's spot missing. When he turned back around a pretty flight attendant was kneeling in front of him. Shayne almost jumped out of his seat because of the close proximity.  
“Don’t get all nervous pretty boy, it’s just me.” The attendant spoke cooley. She had wavy dark brown hair and a narrow face with very precise make up. On her collar was the name tag that said ‘Joslyn’ but Shayne quickly realised who it really was. Damien, he was the Forger after all and Shayne almost forgot that he was going to shift during this dream.  
Damien had a unique ability when it came to the dreamscape. He was able to convince the subject of the dream that he was someone else and completely take on someone else’s appearance. While he couldn’t create completely new people and had to become people who already existed, he was able to mimic ones who were close to the subject of the dream or just become someone else to help convince the subject of the dream of something.  
“And who are you imitating today?” Shayne asked as he adjusted himself in his deat. He pulled out his book he packed for this portion of the dream.  
“No one in particular, just a pretty woman I’ve seen floating around on the internet.” Shayne rolled his eyes at the answer and ‘Joslyn’ got up from her spot from in front of Shayne. The blond checked his notebook and walked himself through the plan again. All he had to do was keep the subconscious away from the first class cabin and stay alive as the plane ‘crashed’, something easy as long as things were kept on the downlow.  
Anthony came out from the bathroom but still looked disturbed from the supposed ‘dream’ he woke up from. He quietly returned to his seat and stared out the window, looking out at the clouds flying by.   
‘Joslyn’ walked over to him and asked, “Is there anything I can get for you sir?” in her kindest and sweetest voice, almost as if she was mocking Anthony. He nodded and simply asked for an ice water which she gave to him a few moments later. Anthony sipped it with shaky hands and wavering breaths. Olivia observed this and was pleased with how he was already getting unsettled. At this point he probably didn’t even remember the logistics of the ‘dream’ but probably just how he felt. Dreams always slip out of the minds of people who aren’t used to going into the dream state.  
Olivia waited a few for minutes, soon the programmed dream would start to reach it’s never ending climax, the plane was going to start acting as if it were crashing to the earth below. Olivia shut her eyes.  
Green eyes  
Shimmering smile  
Balcony  
Olivia’s eyes snapped open. She shook her head and ran her fingers through her long hair. She couldn’t be thinking about that, about her. It would jeopardize the entire job. Olivia pulled out her totem and dropped it on the side table next to her seat. It landed with a light thud and didn’t move a millimeter. ‘It’s just a dream, she’s not here’ Olivia thought to herself. She looked around the cabin and refocused on the task at hand. Now was not the time for games or memories, dreams should never come from memories.   
The first class cabin shook slightly. Olivia looked around and saw the lights dimly flicker. Pulling out a scrap piece of paper from her bag she wrote a note to Boze and casually nodded at Joslyn who took the note with her slight of hand and caught Olivia’s hand movement that lightly gestured towards Boze. Joslyn moved in Boze’s direction towards the back of the cabin and dropped the note onto Boze’s tray table. Joslyn pretended to adjust things in the attendant cart as Boze read the note.  
‘I forgot to ask, how bad is this crash?’ The note read. Boze replied and Joslyn walked the note back over to Olivia who unfolded it and read the answer.  
‘You said make it spectacular’ was the only thing the note said. Olivia’s eyes slightly widened but then remembered that she did say to make it spectacular, but how spectacular would it be? Olivia glanced over at Shayne and lightly smiled at him but her eyes said something else. Shayne was oblivious and carried on reading the book he brought to read for the short amount of waiting time they had in the dream.  
The cabin shook again, this time more jerky, and the lights flickered again. Then in the blink of an eye the plane started trembling about, the floor creaking and the lights going out permanently. Anthony looked around with panic and tightly fastened his seat belt. Sarah clutched the arms of her seat but David sat patiently. Shayne nodded at Olivia and Wes got ready for what was coming next, out of the corner of his eye he saw Damien reappear in his seat.   
“This is your captain speaking, seems like we’re going through a bit of turbulence.” A voice spoke over intercom. Boze mouthed the words of the sentence to herself, she programmed the dream to say that. She was ready, she had built thousands of crash scenarios and relived this one multiple times. It would give Shayne enough time to create the needed kick and for the team to perform Inception. She stayed put in her seat, ready for the oncoming events.  
The plane almost seemed to of stopped for a split second but then lurched forward as if it was accelerating at a rapid speed. Everyone was pushed into their seats and Anthony’s breath hitched as the plane shook around him. Air masks dropped down from the ceiling and muffled screams resonated through the air coming from the coach section of the plane. The team put their masks on and awaited further instruction from Boze, who knew the exact point in which they would go under.  
One.  
A loud crunching noise was heard in the back of the plane. Boze counted in her head.  
Two.  
A loud tearing noise was heard and a metal sheet could be seen ripping off the side of the plane.  
Three.  
A low, warped noise was heard along with screams from the subconscious passengers. That was the final horror Boze programmed and she nodded her head. Wes used all of his strength to get up and uncap another sedative syringe he was keeping in his duffle. He quickly jammed it into Anthony’s neck who in return let out a loud cry and soon his body withered and slumped in his seat.   
Shayne pulled out the tech from an overhead compartment and started unraveling IV’s as Wes and Damien handed them out. Olivia jammed one into her arm and watched as Sarah followed suit with trembling hands. Boze stayed calm while the rest of the team seemed frantic walking around the shaking plane. Damien sat back down in his chair and struggled to get the IV in his arm. Shayne kneeled next to him and gently put the needle into Damien’s vein.   
“Be careful in here Shayne, I don’t want to wake up to you being in shambles.” Damien joked with a sly smile. Shayne rolled his eyes and mussed the brunettes hair.  
“Go to sleep Mr. Haas.” Shayne said with a gentle smile. He leaned back and pressed the center button in the tech. Everyone’s eyes fell shut and the plane continued to tremble. Shayne took a wrist watch from his pocket and read the time, 2:10, the second hand stayed put and the time stayed the same. It was a dream, all a dream. He regretted not telling Boze that he was afraid of heights.


	10. Hitting the Fan

Joven and Sohinki were left in the small hotel room, bodies littered around the room and the soft pulsing of the tech echoing around the room. The second everyone went out the two chemists went straight to work on setting up the kick. They team was asleep in the room number 2610 on the third floor and the room directly below was 1610. The two took the elevator down and walked with dead eyes and faces so they wouldn’t stick out from the rest of the subconscious.   
As they walked down the hallway of the second floor the subconscious walked by and passed them without looking twice. Sohinki was sweating, he hated this. Usually Joven and him would just provide the sedatives and get part of the cut, actually going into the dreamscape wasn’t something that was their speed. But to pass up an offer like this? To help one of the best extractors in history, do a job for one of the richest men in the world, and receive 1.5 million dollars? No one could pass up an offer like that, no one.   
While neither were doing it just for the money even though that was an added bonus, Sohinki and Joven did it for Olivia. They had heard about what happened, everyone did. Courtney went insane, left Olivia in a mess, almost killed the only thing Olivia valued more than her wife. It was a tragedy, one you would only find in stories. But that was Olivia. She was a tragedy. So Joven and Sohinki sucked it up and did the job, went into the dream, help Olivia win back the life that she needs and deserves.   
They reached room 1610 without trouble and used the keycard Boze had given them. They entered and went into the back closet where they pulled out several sticks of C4. They started to place them in strategic corners of the room. They were setting up the kick, the thing that would jolt everyone up in the last waking seconds of the dream. They were to set off a few sticks of C4 that would break the ceiling and the floor of the room above where everyone was. They would fall through, and wake up, then they would wake up in real life. It was easy, so easy that it should go without a problem. Sohinki tried to keep himself calm, it was his dream but with Antony’s subconscious, meaning they were highly trained and would rip apart the dream just to find the dreamer.   
Going back upstairs they repositioned all the sleeping bodies on the beds and floors so they wouldn’t be impacted by the blast. They kept the doors locked, Joven prepped the guns in case anything happened, and Sohinki stood by with the kasset player he would use to signal Shayne.

+++

Olivia spawned into the dream in the streets of Paris near the university. Harsh winds blew, a side effect of what was happening in the previous dream. Hopefully they would get the job done before they lost gravity or got sick from the constant feeling of falling even though they were on the ground. But hopefully none of the effects would come through, they had only a matter of time until they did though.  
She rounded the corner and soon saw Damien, Boze, and Wes, the only remaining members of the team who weren’t tourists. It was still set to be early in the morning, the sun hadn’t even risen yet, It made Olivia feel exhausted even though she had been up for hours. They all silently walked down the quiet streets and stood far enough away from each other so the subconscious wouldn’t notice. They listened to the wind, and the shuttering of buildings. It was an eerie feeling, Boze felt like she was going to be sick. Nor from the crashing plane her body was enduring in the dream above but from the stress and pressure she had been feeling. At this point she just wanted to get this all over with, she didn’t care if Anthony died or not.   
Soon they reached the office building that David and Anthony owned. Sarah opened the door for them and they all walked in silently. The plan was simple, send Anthony Padilla into the worst panic attack he’s ever had. It should be easy, it’s not like he wasn’t already on the brink of one anyways, on the plane he almost lost it.  
As the ascended the flight of stairs Olivia’s hands started to shake, she fiddled with her token in her pocket and felt the cool metal roll between her fingers. She felt the nerves, the pressure, the walls feeling like they were closing in. She felt a hand on her shoulder, Damien’s, he gave her a weak yet reassuring smile that made her feel slightly better.  
Hospital  
Balcony  
Mother  
Olivia only closer her eyes for one second yet they still appeared in front of her. The deeper they went into the dream the faster the thoughts would appear. She pinched her arm, blinked her eyes, counted her steps as they ascended the stairs. Today was not the day to let her thoughts, her ghost, jeopardize the task at hand. She missed Shayne, she missed her mother, she longed for-  
“No.” Olivia whispered to herself. Damien gave her a look and Wes gave her a glance. But they all kept walking up the drab building in the dark morning light. Anthony was supposed to of spawned in the building, thinking he had woken up from a nap in his office which was common for him, and that he had to rush to the flight that would take him to Beijing just as he actually did that morning.   
David was already with Anthony and he tried to remain as poker faced as possible as he watched his business party ramble on about the crazy dream he had. He watched as tears brimmed the man’s eyes, the shakiness of his hands, the wavering tone in his voice. But David stayed composed as everything started to fall into place.

+++

Shayne fired his gun rapidly at the oncoming crowd. Only minutes after the team went under everything had gone to shit. While it was his dream it was Anthony’s subconscious and through the panic of the crash they found out that this was all a dream. Now they were attacking him, he already shot the pilot and flight attendants, ad now he was beating up passengers.   
The floor beneath him shook and shuttered, his stomach churned and he tried to regain his footing. Rain pelted against the windows and flew into the cabin as some of them were broken. The scene was horrendous and he felt the agonizing feeling of falling. The plane picked up speed and Shayne lost his stance between the rows of seats. As a passenger lunged at him bothe flew up into the air and into the ceiling of the plane. Shayne groaned from he sharp pain he now felt in his ribs, he fired his gun and the subconscious flew back in a fit of blood and screaming. His body then dropped from the ceiling and fell to the ground after it crashed into a seat.   
The plane was staggering to keep itself from falling directly into the ground. Boze warned him that it was a long crash and came in many stages, he just hoped there was a small break in between. Shayne struggled to get back to the first class cabin and slammed the door shut behind him. The team was still safely strapped into their seats and the pulsing of the machine could faintly be heard underneath the roaring of the plane. Shayne felt like he was going to vomit but he knew that that would just make things worse than they already were. He just hoped he would hear the music soon.  
+++

Just as the team was going to walk into Anthony’s office clad in ski masks and guns pretending to be terrorists (something that would truly set him over the edge) they felt the floor beneath them shake and before she even realised it, Olivia was being flung backwards. Her body hit the wall and crumpled to the floor and she looked around at what happened. The door to Anthony Padilla’s office was blown open and the windows shattered. One of the walls was busted and had exposed drywall. Olivia saw a figure walk through the mess and perch themselves in front of her.  
It was her, it was Courtney.


	11. Waking Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry for posting so late but happy late Christmas to all who celebrate! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and I hope you enjoy this final chapter in Am I Dreaming? But don't worry! I have another fic planned that I should be posting soon and I hope you guys will enjoy. Thank you so much for reading!

Olivia looked eerily into the bright green eyes in front of hers. They were big and fake looking, void of emotion compared to the smiling face that Courtney had. They was dead but at the same time she looked so real. Olivia looked at the haunting image of the wife she thought was dead. The sounds going on around her faded as the team was running around. Boze was in the other room screaming and checking for Anthony’s pulse while Damien and Wes were firing upon the backup subconscious security that had begun attacking the group.   
Olivia stayed put, lying on the ground, looking at a memory.   
But was she?  
Everything seemed so real. Olivia reached out and stroked the face of the blonde, the other woman leaned into her touch and smiled. Olivia felt weak from the blast her body just experienced. She didn’t want to move she was perfectly content with what was happening. She ignored the team and Damien’s cries for her that said ‘She’s not real’ and continued to look at the most prized person she had lost.   
But the memory faded so quickly when Olivia felt a sharp jab in her side and when she looked down she saw a knife being shoved into her abdomen. Courtney was wielding it and she twisted the blade with such ferocity Olivia couldn’t even speak because her mouth tasted like metal and her body was filled with white hot pain. She was paralyzed for real this time.   
The sounds around her hit all at once. The gunfire, the screams, the shaky breaths. Olivia looked around then back at where Courtney was but the blond was already gone. Wes rushed to Olivia’s side and pressed her wound until Sarah ran over to help make him a tourniquet of some sort. Olivia gasped in pain as the wrapped her side to stop the bleeding. Tears pricked into her eyes and her palms were cold, face already pale. Wes hauled her into the exploded area of Anthony’s office. His body was crumpled on the floor, apparently still alive, and the walls and floor were covered in ash. Damien was using the doorway as cover as he and David shot at the subconscious.  
“What do we do what do we do?” Boze said frantically as she sat beside Anthony, fingers still on his neck from when she was checking for a pulse. The young architect was in a frantic state with everything going on. Sweat beaded her brow and she looked as if she was going to cry. “He’s dead!” she cried out. Wes, David, and Damien stopped shooting and retreated further back into the office where the rest of the team was.  
“He’s dead?” David asked in a panic. Boze nodded and everyone started checking various parts of the man’s body to see if he was truly dead. Olivia was stilled slumped on the floor, weakly applying pressure to her wound. “Is that it?” The businessman asked.  
“That can’t be it can it? We can fix this somehow right?” Damien asked. “And if Olivia dies in the dream then she dies in real life! How do we get her out of this?” The forger looked around and started shooting at the security again. Olivia’s eyes started to flutter close but she pushed through the tired feeling and the pain. The building shuttered and groaned which caused the team to stop moving again as the lights flickered on and off. It was the dream above and it was already starting to catch up to them.   
“There’s a way, we can still finish this.” Olivia said weakly. The team looked at her as she pushed herself into an upright position. “We go into the dreamstate again. His mind shouldn’t be completely gone yet. Are you positive he is dead.”  
Olivia placed her own fingers to his neck and her ear to his chest. It was faint but still there, a heartbeat. She nodded and the team sighed in relief. Anthony wasn’t dead and they could finish this. But going a fourth dream deep? Was that asking too much?  
“It will be unstable and only a few of us can go down. Courtney will be there for sure, but we can still do it.” Olivia said as Damien barricaded the door with Wes.   
“But there’s no dream downloaded and isn’t the fourth layer pure and unfiltered subconscious?” Boze asked. Olivia nodded.  
“That’s why I’m going, my wound shouldn’t be there once we first get there. But I think we can do it. I’m taking Damien with me and that’s it.”  
“Excuse me?” Damien said in protest. OLivia wavered him off and ordered to team to get things set up. Boze pulled the tech from Anthony’s desk and started to set everything up and from there Olivia and Damien laid out on the floor and the others but Anthony’s body next to them. They shoved IV’s into their arms and mentally prepared themselves for what they would see.   
“What’s the kick, how do we get you out of there?” Wes asked.  
“Shock Anthony with the defibrillator once it hits three minutes, this dream in only set for five minutes which give us about an hour and a half.” Olivia said determined. She closed her eyes and laid back down and soon enough she heard the press of a button and her mind was sent into another state. 

+++

Olivia looked around and felt her stomach. The puncture wasn’t there. She breathed a sigh of relief and she navigated herself through the twisting city that was laid out in front of her. It was her city, or rather their city, that she had built several years ago with her love. Her everything.  
She found Damien on an empty street corner where he stood confused. It seemed as if they were the only people in this dream, the big city streets were empty and filled with a light that seemed to come from an abandon source. It was all so hyper realistic that it wasn’t believable. The two walked down the streets and Damien walked quickly behind Olivia who seemed to know where she was going.   
They wound up leaving the city and they were on a windy and white sand beach. There on the beach stood a lone cottage with a clothesline hanging out front. The white shirts and dark wash jeans that here hanging there fluttered in the wind and Olivia paused for a minute before they walked along the shore to where the cottage was.  
The door was unlocked and Damien stood by with his hand hovering over his holster. A crack of lightning filled the air and storm clouds started brewing, the defibrillator was already being set off which meant their time was already coming to an end. Olivia walked inside and Damien was a few steps behind. There in the kitchen of the cottage was Courtney, standing there with her back turned to the duo. Olivia approached her slowly.  
“Honey,” Olivia said breaking the silence. The blond turned around and looked at the two of them with a calm get eerie stare. “Where is he?”  
“No.” Courtney said flatly. Her hand brushed over a knife that was resting on the cutting board sitting on the counter. Damien’s grip on his gun that was in his back pocket tightened. Olivia however stayed calm.  
“We need him.”  
“No, you need me.” Courtney said in protest. “Why is he here? You brought him into our home? Our sanctuary?” Courtney asked feverently. Her eyes spelled out anger and her lip quivered. “This is home, this is where you should be. Why have you left me, abandoned me?” She asked. Olivia turned away from the woman. Her hands were shaking and Damien looked at the scene playing out. Courtney was insisting that everything in this dream was a reality and it seemed as if Olivia was going to believe it.  
“No.” Olivia whispered. “I came here for Anthony, give me him and let me go.”  
“No.” Courtney shot back. “You take and you take and I get nothing in return. You leave me, use me when you need me, repress me. I want something this time.” Thunder and lightning cracked through the sky and Damien looked and saw rain pouring down from the sky. Time was running out so quickly and he was tempted to just shoot Courtney and find Anthony but he knew that would have detrimental effects on the dream.   
“Take me.” Olivia said quietly. Damien’s eyes widened and Courtney smiled in response.  
“Olivia n-”  
“Deal.” Courtney said interrupting Damien. “He’s in the porch out back.” Olivia looked at Damien and he rushed outside where he saw Anthony tied up and gagged on the back porch. His temple bloody and bruised. Damien untied him and felt the rain beat against his skin. Anthony looked up at him with panic in his eyes as he frantically clung to Damien’s side.   
“Olivia we need to go!” He screamed from the back porch. Olivia looked at him then back at Courtney. Courtney’s face turned into a frown and another crack of lightning sprung through the sky so brightly it blurred everyone vision.  
“I’ll come back.” Olivia whispered to Courtney before the were plummeted back into their bodies in the dream above.

+++

Olivia’s eyes fluttered open to see the team running around and shooting subconscious in the office building. Anthony’s eyes opened too and a loud crack was heard. The floor beneath them crumbled and none of them could ignore the pulling sensation. Before their bodies plummeted to the ground below they felt weightless and floated through the air. Then the floating stopped and before they saw their bodies hit the ground a white light flashed.

+++

They were back on the plane. Shayne rushed into the back cabin where everyone was. Olivia looked at her best friend, his blue eyes looking into her brown ones frantically and his blond hair sweaty and stuck to his face. The entire plane’s rear end had broken off and the plane was creaking and groaning. Their bodies almost felt weightless and the plummeted into the ceiling in a mess of IV’s and bodies. The plane was a few feet from crashing and just as the nose started to hit the ground another white flash filled everyone’s eyes.

+++

Screams, cracking, explosion. The floor from beneath the team broke from beneath them and for the last time their bodies hit the ground. Olivia got up from her place and groaned, drywall was everywhere and in the corner was a wide eyed Sohinki and Joven still in their dress suits and ties. Sohinki was holding the detonator for the C4. Olivia nodded at the two of them and one last white flash filled their eyes. 

+++

David woke up feeling like he was in a new body. There were no signs of the briefcase full of IV’s and the flight attendant that helped that was serving warm towels. He glanced at Boze, who was looking out the window with tired eyes. Her hands fiddling with a pencil and pad of paper with a faint drawing of a maze on it. Wes had his head in one of his hands and the other was holding his phone that he would use to immediately call his girlfriend after they landed. Shayne was staring intently at his watch, eyes counting the second hand and never missing a tick and Damien was reading one of the magazines that was in his seat pocket. He no longer had his signature smirk. Sarah was still asleep, exhausted from the days events and Olivia was picking her nails and rolling a silver and mirrored marble between her fingers. Occasionally dropping it on her tray table and watching it roll.  
Lastly, Anthony was rubbing his face with his hot towel, eyes red and puffy from what looked like tears. David only have him a glance but he knew what needed to be done was done. He pulled out his phone and started to call his bank because he needed to make a transfer and clear someone’s name.  
Leaving the plane the team acted as if they never saw one another. They walked through customs where Olivia was able to make it through just fine. They all claimed their baggage with heavy and tired eyes. Shayne and Olivia walked together, tired of keeping up the facade of not knowing each other. And as they waited for the bags she rested her head on his shoulder. Damien slipped by him to grab his bag and place a scrap of paper with his number on it into Shayne’s pocket. Shayne smirked as he read it later.  
Days later all of them read the news story about how Anthony Padilla had commited suicide in his Beijing apartment and how the company was left to his VP, David Moss. Wes watched the news story with his girlfriend Mari cuddled up to his side fast asleep. He felt content with never having to work again in his life and never having to go into the stupid dream state.  
Boze paid off her tuition and still had plenty left over for herself and worked alongside Ian Hecox. She also vowed to never go into the dreamstate again. Damien stayed in Berlin where he bought a bigger apartment for his frequent visitor, Shayne, who lived in Paris with his brother Tanner, Beijing with Olivia, and Germany with Damien. Joven and Sohinki also never went into the dream state again but continued to provide sedatives to those who did.  
Olivia was left in Beijing with her mother who was confined in her hospital bed in a deep coma. She watched her, read to her, and funded her medical bills. She was happy with living with Shayne in various parts of the year and happy with what she had.  
But she made a promise.

+++

Shayne closed the comic book he was reading next to Olivia’s hospital bed. It was almost a year after the job that Olivia did it. She filled up her body with enough sedatives to thrust her into an eternal coma, giving her the same fate as her mother. Shayne would now watch over the two of them and read to them and pay their bills. All of Olivia’s money was left to Shayne in her will she had written just before going under. It filled the man with grief to see things turn out this pay, Olivia had one of the brightest minds he had ever encountered. But now it was gone with the rest of her.

+++

Olivia woke up in a sunny room, the curtains fluttering around her. She smelled the sea breeze and heard the crashing of the waves. She picked her marble out of the pocket of her shorts and dropped it on the table next to the bed she was laying on. It rolled off and dropped to the floor.  
“Oh finally, you’re up!” A voice said in the doorway. Olivia looked up and saw Courtney standing there in a white t-shirt and jeans. Hair messy and bouncy as always and a cheery smile on her face. Olivia smiled and got up from the bed and walked over to her wife.


End file.
